COVER STORY

SEA Ltd. has built a reputation for its forensic analysis. Now it has a new complex where it can wreck stuff

before that stuff wrecks consumers. DAN EATON, PAGE 4

HOW THIS COMPANYKEEPS YOU SAFE

4 COLUMBUS BUSINESS FIRST OCTOBER 28, 2016 5

BY DAN EATON deaton@bizjournals.com, 614-220-5462, @DanEatonBiz1st

SEA Ltd. isn’t a household name even though its work likely touches most households.

The 46-year-old Colum-bus-based forensic analysis, investigation and product test-ing fi rm tends to keep a low profi le, but that fi ve-star roll-over rating on your car? Th at’s SEA. Th at holiday candle burn-ing in your living room? Prob-ably tested at SEA. Th ere are doors on side-by-side off -road vehicles thanks to SEA. And that’s just the business’ past.

“Th is company was founded on looking at accidents after they happen,” CEO Jason Baker said. “Several years ago we saw more opportunity to move upstream into prod-uct testing for manufacturers and producers.”

Th e name stands for Scientifi c Expert Analysis and the bulk of the work is still litigation-related with SEA staff investigating vehicle accidents, potential faulty products and structural collapses, among other inci-dents. But consumer products work and auto industry research are growing areas of the business.

“Vehicle dynamics, autonomous vehicles, we’ve been operating in areas like that for years,” Baker said. “As that expands, like here in Columbus through the Smart City initiative, we see more opportunities.”

Its reach is national with 11 offi ces across the U.S. and it’s making a move into Europe as well, where it sees potential in the marine and energy industries. Baker said SEA staff were recently in Norway look-ing at a decommissioned oil rig. Here at home, it has a new four-building campus in northeast Columbus — a more than 100,000-square-foot complex on 13 acres that almost doubles the fi rm’s previous space — and is prepped for a future where it can have a bigger hand in issues such as safety and reliability in everything from kitchen appliances to tools to football helmets to pas-senger vehicles to military equipment.

SEA opened its doors Oct. 6 to clients, potential cus-tomers and media to show off its wide range of capabil-ities from fi re investigation to vehicle testing to medi-cal illustration. Th e following is some of what was on display.

How the Durango ignitedFire investigation is a big part of the SEA business. Th at’s an all-encompassing process that brings in interviews, on-site investigation and sometimes advanced mapping and other techniques depending on the situation. It’s a fi eld that touches a lot of what SEA does from electrical and mechanical engineering to laboratory chemists and technicians. Th is incident was reverse engineered, of course. Th e fi ctional story was that the car owner had recently done several upgrades to the 150,000-mile Dodge Durango, including installing new stereo speakers and changing some components of the fuel line. Th e owner was a smoker. He also left a greasy bag of chips sitting on the dashboard. It was that touch that ignited the blaze with one of the tell-tale signs behind how and where the windshield collapsed.

Th e tech behind national rollover testsSEA built its fi rst Vehicle Inertia Measurement machine for Ford Motor Co. in 1994. It since has sold fi ve more to General Motors Co. , Toyota Motor Corp. , Nissan Motor Co. , and other vehicle makers in addition to maintaining its own, which is rented out to manufacturers or any other entity looking to measure the center of gravity of a vehicle.

Th e machine, which resembles a large balancing table, has handled more than 20,000 tests and since 2003 is the National Highway Traffi c Safety Administration’s choice to handle vehicle rollover tests. So when you see

your vehicle has a 5-star rollover rating, that test was conducted at SEA. While the on-site machine handles vehicles up to 10,000 pounds, SEA

also built one for the U.S. Army that can test vehicles up to 100,000 pounds and a machine that can test suspension systems on vehicles up to that size as well. Th e facility also has a smaller machine that can fi nd the center of gravity of individuals and aids in accident investigation.

Another SEA-created contraption is a “tilt table” (pictured above) used to fi nd the angles at which a vehicle, in this instance an ATV, will tip over. Th e machine can tilt in all four directions. Th e vehicle lab area also includes separate, private viewing rooms in cases where lawyers are on site to watch a process. Prosecution gets one room, while the defense takes the other.

Dummying trauma“I look at the body,” said Doug Morr , biomechanical engineer. “How it moves, how it falls, how it handles a load.”

His work is related to personal injuries, causes and mechanical engineering analysis of failures. Th at includes car accidents, slips and falls, even trauma caused by falling objects. One area that has seen increased work is in sports-related concussions, a hot contemporary topic.

Morr said the company has done product liability work on helmets and has testifi ed in cases on the eff ectiveness of the gear.

Th e case of the Pop Tart in the toaster“A lot of cases hinge on whether or not it was a short circuit or thermal melting,” said Randy Bills , senior project engineer, of the fi re investigation unit.

Case examples included a Mansfi eld radio station fi re that proved to be thermal melting, not a short circuit as the fi re department fi rst believed, and a home in Marysville where a child, seeking an evening snack, got a Pop Tart lodged in a toaster. Th ere was no defect with the toaster. Th e pastry was wedged in and couldn’t eject, causing a signifi cant fi re – no one was injured. Th e girl watched Bills excavate the scene and unearth a red plastic mass.

“I know what that is,” she told him. “Th at’s the chair I stand on to put my Pop Tarts in the toaster.”

Further investigation confi rmed that unintended confession.

COVER STORY

New, larger auto accident simulator Th e sled, as it is called, can simulate vehicle accidents. SEA had this equipment before but it was housed off -site in Plain City because its previous Worthington complex didn’t have the room for it. Th e move to the new facilities let SEA increase the size of its sled by 50 percent, allowing for greater speed while also improving its capabilities. Th e hydraulic-propelled cable system simulated a low-speed, 11-mph impact. SEA runs these tests for rollovers and to check occupant safety restraints. Th e system is used for automobiles, forklifts, golf carts and all-terrain vehicles.

THE DETAILS

SEA LTD.Based: ColumbusFounded: 1970CEO: Jason BakerEmployees: 257Area employees: 106Other offices: Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, St. Louis, Tampa2015 sales: Would not discloseWebsite: sealimited.com

Columbus forensics fi rm’s tests ensure products are safe

Investigating, preventing consumer product failures PAGE 6

SEA INSIDE

6 COLUMBUS BUSINESS FIRST

COVER STORY

Keeping pressure cookers closedMuch of SEA’s work historically has been investigating potential product failures after the fact. A bigger push in recent years has been made into product testing and heading off issues before any occur. In this specialized case, Jason Mattice , project engineer in biomechanics and mechanical engineering, was testing how much force is needed to open a pressure cooker while it’s still working.

“We don’t want something like this happening and it winds up causing injuries or property damage,” he said.

A grinder power tool was set up in another station to test the stress it could endure.

Testing at the speed of businessOne of SEA’s biggest lines of business is candle testing. In the move to the new headquarters, the candle business got a dedicated lab separate from the rest of the facility. Th e work isn’t a slow burn, but rather quick turn. Th e batches tested at SEA are ones right on the verge of leaving a retailer’s distribution center.

“We need to get the data to clients because these need to go out,” said Brent Curkendall , candle lab supervisor. “Th ey need restocked, so it can’t sit in the distribution center for more than a day.”

Th e report tackles four key factors — fl ame height, which must be below three inches; container breakage; “fl ash overs” when vapors ignite; and wick remnants falling off and burning.

“We burn to the instructions on the label,” he said, pointing out the label on the bottom of the candles. “If a customer is doing everything right, we need to make sure it works.”

Laboratory for fabric, paint, leadTh e corporate laboratory started as support for the fi re investigations but expanded to allow for product testing work, too. Th at includes garments — a laboratory manager ignited a swath of fl annel for a demonstration. Th e assorted labs in the division test everything from lead amounts in consumer products to fabric and paint analysis related to accidents. It looks at metals and other materials, searching for possible failures, with one of its many tools being an advanced imaging system that can enhance to the point of showing the grooves and textures of materials that otherwise seem fl at to the eye or touch.